Category — Inspiration

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Front Porch Ideas for a Great First Impression

(A complete list of sources is included below.)

1. Grunge Is Passé - Replace those grungy, old or dated chair covers with new outdoor pillows and seat cushions made from durable, UV resistant outdoor fabric.
2. Set the Table - Pick a summer bouquet of flowers, pop them in a vase or antique pitcher, and place them in the center of your outdoor table.
3. Make Your Presence Known - Large, easy-to-read house numbers, placed in an easy-to-see location makes finding you, well…easy. Choose house numbers that complement or are in keeping with the style of your house and outdoor decor.
4. Romancing the Porch - Hang gauzy outdoor curtains to inject a little romance. Outdoor curtains mounted on opposite sides will elegantly frame your porch.
5. Roll Out the Red Carpet - Arrange your porch furniture on a new outdoor carpet or place a new welcome mat at the front door. (The color is up to you.)
6. Front Porch First Aid - Revive your front porch and your entrance door with a fresh coat of paint.

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Let’s give credit where credit is due. There are few places in this world where you can find so much good in one place. At Ikea it’s all good.

Good Vibes

For many of us, our first foray into the world of home furnishings and decor took place at an Ikea store. Ahhh, remember that heady sense of new-found independence as you went in search of the perfect Poem chair for your first home away from home?! Now, it’s some twenty years later (has it really been that long?) and the prospect of a trip to the mecca of Swedish home furnishings excites us still. With the addition of many new locations, the trip may have been shortened somewhat, but the possibilities remain endless.

Opening the first page of the annual catalog is viewed as a sacred ritual, reserved for a special time and place completely removed from distraction or interruption. Opening the doors of an actual store and stepping inside, whether it’s for the first time or the fifty-first time, is an exhilarating experience.

Yes, there are Ikea-haters in this world. They are the people who choose to dislike anything that the masses adore. If you say up, they’ll say down - you say right, they’ll say left. Hate all you want people. With your self-imposed ban, you are the ones missing out!

Good Prices

Sometimes you just have to ‘make do’ with what you have or what you can afford. This doesn’t necessarily change with time. Luckily, the selection of what we can afford has been greatly expanded thanks to Ikea. From starter kits for the kitchen, to furniture and decorative accessories for every room in your home, Ikea gives us a broad range of home outfitting and decorating products at good prices. So while you’re waiting until you can afford those Eames chairs to go with your dining table, it’s good to know that Ikea’s Gilbert chairs will provide you with an inexpensive and stylish alternative to eating on the floor.

Good Quality

While a large number of people use the word ‘cheap’ as a positive reference in place of ‘low-cost’ or ‘inexpensive’, for me, cheap is a word more aptly used to negatively describe quality. You’ll hear or read numerous comments that bring the quality of Ikea goods into question. Speaking from personal experience, all the products I have purchased from Ikea over the years have not only met, but exceeded my expectations for stability, longevity, and quality. The negative connotations of ‘cheap’ simply do not apply.

Good Inspiration

Where do you go when you need some real life inspiration? Beyond the flat pages of magazines or computer screens the choices are few. Sure you could traipse through decorated model homes, but in many cases the furniture and accessories are way beyond your range and the design style doesn’t match what you have in mind. Ikea stores provide inspiring display rooms and fully furnished apartments in a variety of decorating styles from modern to traditional. There’s no better way to try before you buy.

In case you haven’t already figured it out, I am an Ikea advocate. For the reasons outlined above, you have and will continue to see Ikea products featured on the pages of SuzyRenovator.

Hey, I had an idea for a low cost modern bathroom vanity cabinet!

For some bizarre reason it’s hard to find a modern bathroom vanity cabinet at a reasonable price. Modern vanity cabinets alone run into multiple hundreds of dollars. Add onto it the cost of the bathroom sink and faucet and it’s no wonder that bathroom renovations come in near the top of the list for most expensive home improvement projects. With this proposed hack of Ikea’s Bestå shelf unit, you can have a modern bathroom vanity sink cabinet for less than $150 dollars. Even with the addition of a small vessel sink and a vessel sink filler faucet, you can still put it all together for under $400. (Don’t forget the pop-up drain and mounting ring.) [Read more →]

Continuing with the outdoor room theme…..Get a little closer to nature this summer with an outdoor shower!

I’ve always wanted an outdoor shower, alas, the perfect location has eluded me. Maybe you’ll have better luck.

(For the products, sources and pricing of items featured in this design inspiration board, see below.)

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Thursday, while visiting Canada Blooms - The Toronto Flower & Garden Festival, it became clear to me that outdoor rooms and outdoor kitchens would continue to be a hot home design trend for the summer of 2008. For Canada, parts of the United States and in many other places around the world, the spring and summer seasons seem to come and go in the blink of an eye. With such a small window of opportunity it’s not at all surprising that we want to maximize our enjoyment of outdoor living by enhancing our outdoor spaces.

To get you thinking ahead to sunshine-filled days and warm, sultry evenings, I thought I’d give you a peak at some of the outdoor room displays from Canada Blooms. [Read more →]

Don’t you love taking things, whether they are new or old, and using them in ways for which they weren’t originally intended?

Hooked Rug = Colorful Wall Hanging

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I received a version of this list in my email today. Sent by friends, I know it was meant as encouragement and inspiration. Even though it’s been posted many times over, I feel that this is good information for women of any age, so I’m posting it too. A little research has revealed that the true writer of these words was Pamela Redmond Satran. Written in 1997, it was originally published in Glamour Magazine. The author, having passed her 30th birthday, wanted to share with other women some of the things she wished she had and had known by the time she reached that age. Since it’s original publishing, she’s added a few items to her list and she encourages us to do the same. [Read more →]

Can you believe it?!  It’s taken forever to get to this point, but the new roman shade for my kitchen window is finally done. 

Without any further adieu, here it is:

The placement of the shade, right at the top of the cupboards, truly gives the illusion of a larger window. 

Am I the only one who thinks it looks waaaay better than the ‘before’ shot shown below?

Next Up:  The other kitchen window.

Small House = Small Living Room

More than just a living room, this area in my home also serves as the entry point from the front door, the access point to the second floor, and a throughway to the den/library.  That means a lot of traffic and very little uninterrupted wall space.

Like the homes of many DIY home decorators/renovators, my humble abode is a (continual) work in progress - it is by no means perfect.  Through my endeavors to make this small living room work for me, I have discovered and incorporated some small space living ideas and solutions that I thought would be worth sharing with you. [Read more →]

Remember that window over my kitchen sink?

The plan was to make a new Roman Shade, specially sized to cover the full width of the space between the upper cabinets on either side of the window above the kitchen sink.  Then, I was going to mount the new fabric window shade at the top of the wall, thus giving the illusion of a larger kitchen window.  The plan has not changed - the process of choosing the perfect fabric, however, has definitely slowed me down.

What I’m looking for is something fresh and bright to liven up the kitchen area.  I’d like something modern and funky, but the fabric I choose also needs to work with the character of this old house.  At this point fabric type, such as linen or cotton, is secondary.

So far I’ve been able to narrow it down to two color families: [Read more →]